2. A tale of two campaigns.
Third quarter GDP this year was below the rate in the same quarter in
1992. This year the networks gave a straight forward account, or offered a
spin that favored Clinton. Announced one anchor: "The
economy was slow, but steady going in the last quarter. Many
economists were encouraged by that because it means inflation is under
control." That's not the treatment George Bush got four years ago.

Wednesday night
CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather announced the bad news: "The
government is out with its final official report on economic growth before
the election. And it indicates a dramatic slowdown. In the third quarter
of the year the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of just 2.2 percent,
that is less than half the growth rate of the second quarter. It didn't
take long for the presidential candidates to put their own spins on
today's economic numbers."

Phil Jones did a
story with Dole's reaction, followed by Rita Braver, who began: "Mr.
Clinton did not mention the sharp economic slowdown in the last quarter.
Instead, he looked at the overall numbers for the year and claimed things
are just getting better..."

Up next, Ray
Brady identified the culprit: falling consumer spending. Brady noted:
"There's one irony here. On election day 1992 the economy was
starting to pick up, but voters hadn't felt it yet. Remember that
expression, 'It's the economy stupid'? And George Bush went down to
defeat. On election day 1996 the economy seems to be slowing, but not
enough so that most voters will be feeling it."

Why hadn't voters
in 1992 "felt it"? Could it be because the media kept putting
the worst possible spin on 1992 economic news? Well, to find out I
sojourned into the MRC tape library. Let's start with CBS. On October 27,
1992, the day of the GDP announcement, Dan Rather asserted:
"Just one week before the election and the Bush administration says
the U.S. economy has turned the corner and started expanding again, but
there is some doubt about the accuracy of the figures, and even if they
are accurate, they may be too little too late to help President Bush
because it was also announced today that consumer confidence in the
economy continues to fall."

Reporter Susan
Spencer reported in from the Bush campaign: "He crowed today at
upbeat news of a third quarter growth rate of 2.7 percent, though some
economists warned that may not hold."

Rather was right
about the number being inaccurate, but not in the direction he thought. It
was later revised upward to 3.9 percent for the 3rd quarter.

On September 4,
1992 anchor Connie Chung led the show: "Today's unemployment report
from the government appears hopeful on the surface. It says the nation's
unemployment rate is down slightly for the second month in a row. But the
latest decline is a result of a summer jobs program for teenagers. That
program is about to end, and as Ray Brady reports, the picture ahead is
bleak."

Brady:
"...Bare minutes after the announcement, the Federal Reserve moved to
cut interest rates to speed the economy. But those strikes and layoffs at
General Motors, and thousands of inner city kids soon to come off those
summer job payrolls. Those could mean bad news for next month's figures.
After hitting a high of 7.8 percent for June, then dipping a tenth of a
point again last month, most economists now predict next month's jobless
rate could hit 7.8 percent."

One month later,
the rate fell from 7.6 to 7.5 percent. Let's go to the October 2, 1992 CBS
Evening News. Ray Brady skipped over his mistake and offered a new reason
to dismiss the good news: "Those unemployment lines did become a bit
shorter last month, but economists say that's largely because many
Americans simply stopped looking for work, so they're no longer counted as
unemployed....The fact is, 17 months after the recovery started, the
economy is stuck in neutral, partly because business is running scared.
It's not expanding like in a recovery, but it is cutting back like in a
recession."

In between the
two unemployment reports, on the September 15, 1992 CBS Evening News, Dan
Rather began the broadcast: "Seven weeks now until election day and
new figures out today indicate the economy is flat. The government
officially reported today that retail sales plunged half a percent last
month, biggest drop in five months, hardest hit appliances and
automobiles. Another sign of a sluggish economy: consumer prices rose just
three-tenths of a percent."

CBS was not the
only culprit. Look at ABC and NBC.

ABC's World
News Tonight

October 30, 1996:
Peter Jennings: "In politics today, the economy as viewed from two
sides. The government reports today that the economy slowed down over the
summer. The Gross Domestic Product, which measures all economic activity,
was up 2.2 percent, but that is less than half the 4.7 percent growth in
the second quarter. President Clinton who was campaigning in Michigan
noted that many economists say a cooling off is necessary to keep
inflation down and therefore, he thinks, the numbers were good news.
Senator Dole on the other hand was in Tennessee earlier today, along with
Mrs. Dole. He says the numbers are cause for concern. He went on to say if
Mr. Clinton is re-elected there could be a recession."

October 27, 1992
Peter Jennings: "The [2.7 percent GDP] is more than economists had
projected, but in many cases, less than meets the eye."
Bob Jamieson: "The increase in economic growth was driven by a surge
in consumer spending. The best news came from spending for big appliances
and furniture, which rose by nearly nine percent. But many economists say
the report is not proof the economy is taking a sharp turn for the
better."
The next day, October 28, 1992, Jennings warned: "The President may
complain about the news media, but the economic growth figures which he is
so pleased about are not that definitive, according to a great many
independent economic analysts."

NBC Nightly
News:

October 30, 1996:
Tom Brokaw: "We're now down to five full days before the election and
the President is mostly protecting his lead while Bob Dole is looking for
any last minute opening. And today again he tried the national economy.
The economy was slow, but steady going in the last quarter. Many
economists were encouraged by that because it means inflation is under
control and interest rates will stay low. But, Bob Dole has another
vision. So, we begin tonight with NBC's David Bloom."
Bloom told how "Bob Dole predicted today that Bill Clinton's
re-election would plunge the nation into another recession." Jim
Miklaszewski then gave Clinton's more upbeat spin.
October 27, 1992 Nightly News:
Tom Brokaw: "The President tonight finally has an economic number
that he can brag about, but at the same time consumers were checking in
today and they're yet to be persuaded that this economy is turning around.
The good number is the Gross Domestic Product, that's the rate of economic
growth July through September. It hit 2.7 percent, that's well above what
most economists predicted. But in this unusual economy, that's not enough,
not with another report out today showing a sharp drop in consumer
confidence."

All this matches
the Center for Media and Public Affairs finding that "in September
1992, 98 percent of all sources on the evening news criticized the state
of the economy."

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